Grocer’s loss narrows

Thursday, Feb. 12, 2004 | 11 a.m.

PLEASANTON, Calif. -- Safeway Inc., the No. 3 U.S. supermarket chain and a big operator in Las Vegas with its Vons stores, today reported a narrower fourth-quarter loss as acquisition costs declined.

The net loss shrank to $695.9 million, or $1.57 a share, from $1.05 billion, or $2.37, a year earlier, Pleasanton, Calif.-based Safeway said. Sales in the period ended Jan. 3 rose 2.7 percent to $11 billion from $10.7 billion.

Were it not for more than $2 a share in costs related to the company's Dominick's and Randall's chains and four-month grocery- workers strike in southern California, Safeway said it would have had a profit. The strike reduced earnings by 23 cents a share, a smaller drag than some analysts had forecast.

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